


Don't Leave Me

by marvelouswritings



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-04 11:56:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15840813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelouswritings/pseuds/marvelouswritings
Summary: Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton are on a standard mission until everything goes wrong





	Don't Leave Me

The mission was standard, it was something they had done hundreds of times before, but somehow, someway, it all went wrong. 

“Barton, cover me!” Natasha screamed, running through the gunfire. She knew she had to stop him, he couldn’t leave with the file. They couldn’t fail the mission, they never did. 

Clint screamed out over the gunfire, but she was already too far gone to be stopped. Natasha followed him through the vacant warehouse, gunfire raging from every corner and every side, she only focused on the target, it was what she had been trained to do since she was a child. He turned a corner and ran up a flight of stairs, she knew there was no way that she could beat him up the stairs on foot, he had too far of a head start. Natasha slowed down for a fraction of a second looking around and seeing the chain that hung from the next level. She grabbed it and started making the climb, she was there before he finished his run up the stairs. He saw Natasha and froze with fear, he knew he was in trouble, he knew that she wasn’t letting him leave. He put his hand on the gun in his belt and Natasha shot him between the eyes. His limp body fell back down the stairs and the file fell from his hands, she ran over to pick it up, not noticing the yell that had come from her partner down below.

“Package secure. Barton get out of there and meet me at the rendezvous point.” Natasha said into her com device only to receive static back on her end. 

“Barton! Barton! Do you copy?” Natasha screamed nearly frantic as the bullets started to be aimed her direction again. 

Natasha took cover behind a wall and started picking off targets one by one, she wasn’t as good a shot as Clint, but when she took down a target they typically didn’t get back up. When Natasha had eliminated all of the threats that she could see she jumped from her level down to the next, rolling to absorb the impact. She landed harder than she expected and attracted more attention than she had wanted. The first guy ran over to her and she took him down with ease, he wasn’t even a match for the Black widow in hand to hand combat, hardly anyone was. The next three fell like the first and the next level was clear. Gunshots were still ringing out and Natasha could see that the rest of the enemy agents were fleeing except for one and Clint was nowhere to be seen. Natasha shot the last agent unsuspectedly and went on a frantic search for Clint. 

Natasha finished her search of the level she was on and made her way to the last place that she saw Clint. He was lying behind barrels and was bleeding profusely. Natasha ran over to him and he was barely conscious.

“Clint! Clint! Stay with me, you’re going to be ok. Keep your eyes open Stay with me!” Natasha yelled putting pressure on one of the four bullet wounds. “This is agent Romanoff to base. I need medical evac immediately. Agent Barton is down.” Natasha said into her coms device.

“Natasha?” Clint coughed, spitting up blood. 

“Clint stay quiet for me you’re going to be OK. We are going to make it out of this.” Natasha soothed trying to keep him from writhing underneath her hands. 

“Evac is eight minutes out.” A voice shouted into Natasha’s ear. 

“Fuck! Clint stay with me! Keep your eyes open, look at me. You’re going to be fine.” Natasha begged him, trying to slow the bleeding as much as she could as she waited. The seconds felt like hours and the minutes felt like days as she felt her best friends life running through her fingers with every drop of blood that flowed out of him. Clint had lost consciousness sometime around the three minute mark, and the medical team arrived four minutes later. 

Natasha was pushed out of the way as more qualified professionals took over her job. Clint was put on a stretcher and rushed away from her. Natasha tried to follow but a familiar tug on her wrist stopped her. She looked up at who was holding her back and saw it was Coulson so she tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let her. 

“Coulson! I need to go with him. I have to stay with him, he’s my partner! I’m not leaving him!”

“Natasha you can’t do that. He’s with the best of the best. You can’t go with him.” Coulson soothed as the helicopter started up again.

“The hell I can’t!” She screamed, trying even harder to pull away from him. 

“Natasha, its Fury’s orders.” Coulson said distracting her as the helicopter started to take off. 

“Fuck Fury’s orders!” She yelled pulling away from Coulson just as the helicopter took off. Natasha turned around and gave Coulson one of her death stares that could turn anyone’s legs to jelly. “We are following that damn helicopter. I am not leaving him.” Natasha said so eerily calm that they did what she said. 

The helicopter ride was no more than thirty minutes but to Natasha it felt like years, her best friend, one of the only people that she trusted with her life was who knows how far away, dying. Natasha didn’t say anything on the ride and barely acknowledged that a nurse had come over and patched up a through and through bullet hole in her leg that she didn’t even know she sustained. Coulson tried to talk to her, to ask her about the mission, but she wasn’t in the mood, she gave him another one of her death stares and he backed off. The helicopter landed on the helicarrier and Natasha rushed down to the infirmary, barely arriving as the doors to the operating room closed.   
Natasha threatened a nurse for information but got nothing, the nurse had no clue, the only thing she knew was that he was going into surgery and he wouldn’t be out anytime soon. So Natasha sat in the waiting room and waited. There was nothing more she could do, but she would be damned if she left. After about three hours and twenty missed phone calls from Fury, Hill and Coulson. Coulson made his way down to the empty infirmary waiting room, to try and talk some sense into Natasha. 

“Natasha, I know, I know exactly what you are going to say, but we need you to come upstairs. Fury needs to talk to you.”

“Coulson, I’m not leaving here. I’m not leaving him, if it’s that urgent he can come down here. I’m not leaving him.”

“Natasha there is nothing you can do right now and I know this hurts and it sucks but we need you upstairs. He isn’t coming out of surgery anytime soon, he won’t know that you’re gone.” 

“Phil.” Natasha pleaded, knowing that if he was going to let her stay that she had to use every weapon in her arsenal.

“Natasha. Now.” Coulson said sternly while walking to the door and Natasha followed, knowing that there was no way she was going to win. 

They arrived at Fury’s office and Coulson left them to talk. He shut the door with finality and Natasha stood at full attention, trying to get the worst of it over first. 

“Natasha. What happened out there today?” Fury asked her softly. 

“Nick I don’t know. I don’t know what happened. It was nothing we hadn’t done before. Everything was fine until it wasn’t.” Natasha said, showing a hint of vulnerability. 

“But Natasha. This doesn’t happen to you guys. You guys don’t need evac, you guys both don’t come back from missions with bullet holes in you. What happened?” He asked, more confused than he had ever been before. 

“Yeah well it did. Are we done here because I need to go check on my partner.” Natasha nearly yelled, barely keeping her anger in check.

“Do you think it was a setup?” He asked.

“Nick! I don’t know! I don’t what happened! I don’t know anything other than my best friend is in surgery and I don’t know if he’s going to make it out alive. Nick I wish I could tell you more I really do.” Natasha yelled, finally losing her patience and letting her walls down a little.  
“You’re right. I know. I’m sorry. You can go now, but he still isn’t out yet. You might want to go change.” Fury said giving up knowing that he had pushed her too far and there was nothing more for her to give. Natasha took her opportunity and made a beeline for the infirmary. When she arrived she saw a pile of nicely folded clothes on her seat with a note stuck on top.

“Just because you can’t take care of Clint doesn’t mean you can’t take care of yourself- Hill” Natasha let the slightest hint of a smile creep onto her face. She took the clothes into the waiting room bathroom and changed into the leggings, t-shirt, and one of Clint’s hoodies that she stole from him that Maria had left her. After she changed she washed her face in the sink and pulled her long red hair back into a bun to get it out of her way. After she thought she had collected herself enough and put enough of her walls back up she exited the restroom and went to see if the nurse had any updates. 

“Excuse me. Have you gotten an update on agent Barton’s condition?” She asked politely even though that was the last thing she wanted to do. 

“Agent Romanoff, I told you I would update you when I got something new. All I know is that he’s still in surgery. I’m very sorry.” The blonde nurse said with a sad smile. 

Natasha only nodded and went back to her chair, every once in a while she would get up to pace, trying to let some of her nervous energy out. She couldn’t understand why she was so nervous she was talking about Clint Barton afterall, he always made it out of everything, but the voice in the back of her mind that she could always silence wouldn’t shut up. It kept whispering in her ear, telling her all of the things she always tried to ignore. Natasha looked at the clock trying to distract the voice and she noted that Clint had now been in surgery for over six hours and her anxiety was starting to get the best of her and the voice finally took over.

“This was all your fault you know. Had you just let the guy go Clint wouldn’t be in surgery right now. Clint is going to hate you now you know.” The voice whispered in her ear. Natasha continued to try to ignore it but the voice kept going and it kept getting louder. 

“Clint is going to die now, just like everyone you have ever cared about. I should start going through the list, or I could just keep going on about Clint. You know he really loves you, that’s something you can never feel. I’m surprised he is even able to love you, you’re a cold hearted monster, I don’t even think that you are capable of having human emotions, the Red Room wiped that out of you, just like they wiped everything else human out of you.” The voice said to her in her head at a normal volume now.

“Please stop.” Natasha whispered, looking at the clock, watching the minutes tick by and losing more and more hope. What Natasha didn’t notice while she was in her own world was the nurse place a call to Coulson. 

“It’s a shame, a real shame, I liked him, well when he wasn’t trying to get you out of your own head. He seemed like nice guy, you were really out of your league with him. He actually cared about you, he somehow found a way to care about a monster, that’s impressive.” The voice said to her again as the door to the operating room swung shut and a doctor walked over to her. 

“Agent Romanoff. Agent Romanoff can you hear me?” The doctor asked her, trying to get her attention. 

“Yes, sorry, I was staring off into space. Do have an update about agent Barton’s condition?” She asked pulling herself out of her own world and putting on one of her masks as Coulson walked into the waiting room. 

“Yes I do, but it isn’t good. He took a beating.” The doctor said.

“Yeah, no shit sherlock. How is he, can I go see him?” Natasha demanded. 

The doctor swallowed not wanting to be the one to break the news about her best friend to the Black Widow. “We did everything that we could, but it doesn’t look good. There is a chance that he won’t wake up, and if he does, we don’t know when that will be.”

Natasha let the slightest bit of emotion slip onto her face but quickly covered it up before the stranger could notice, but Coulson who was standing off to the side knew exactly what was going on. “Where is he?” Natasha asked with a tone that would make anyone do what she wanted. The doctor ushered her away from the waiting room with Coulson trailing behind.

The doctor stopped right in front of the door to warn Natasha before she saw him. What the doctor didn’t consider was the window that Natasha could see him through. The doctor began to talk but Natasha stormed past him before the doctor could finish and Natasha froze as the doctor stood behind her as Coulson filed in the room behind them. 

“Like I told you, his chances aren’t that great.” The doctor said taking his leave so that it was only the unconscious Clint, the panicking Natasha and the stunned Coulson. 

“Natasha. Natasha. Take a deep breath. Nat, hey breathe.” Coulson said going up to her. Natasha’s chest was heaving, she couldn’t catch her breath, it was like the world at been taken out from under her feet. Tears were coming to her eyes and she couldn’t stop them, Clint was lying in his hospital bed unmoving, his eyes were shut, face pale, tubes were coming out of his nose and mouth, breathing for him. He had infusions going in both of his arms, bandages covering the entirety of his chest, barely hiding the mangled skin underneath. If the doctor hadn’t told Natasha that he wasn’t dead she wouldn’t have believed that he wasn’t. 

Natasha walked over to him and touched his hand, it was cold and still, nothing like the real Clint, he was always moving and his body was like a furnace. The tears spilled over and Natasha let down her mask. She pulled over a chair and sat directly next to her best friend, her partner, her saviour, her everything. She didn’t notice Coulson trying to talk to her or his examining of her, but she nearly attacked him when he started to examine Clint.

“Don’t touch him or I swear to god I will kill you!” Natasha screamed, not realizing who Coulson was. 

Coulson backed off and put his hands off and whispered. “Nat, it’s just me.”

Natasha looked at him and realized who he was, she looked back down at Clint’s hand that she was holding. “Make sure no one comes in here without a badge. Make sure Fury and Hill know that I’m not leaving him and I don’t care what they do or say.” Natasha ordered without even glancing up at him. Coulson nodded and took his leave, so that it was only Clint and Natasha. 

Natasha sat in silence with Clint for days, only leaving her chair to pace or use the restroom. A nurse brought her food at every meal, but she hardly ever ate it, she was too nervous and was worried that she wouldn’t be able to keep it down. Maria had clothes sent to her by an intern every day. Maria stopped by on the third day to see Natasha and to check on her. The two of them were as close as they could be, a lot of the agents around S.H.I.E.L.D talked about them behind their backs and there was two prevailing theories. The first was that Fury had secretly adopted them as his murder children, the second was that they were lesbian lovers. The first one was correct, but none of the three would admit that to anyone.

Maria walked in quietly, startling Natasha out of her trance so that she pulled her eyes away from Clint to look at her.

“Hey, how is he?” Maria asked softly.

“There’s been no change, the doctors aren’t sure if, uh, if he’s going to wake up.” Natasha sniffled, wiping her nose and making herself look more presentable to Maria. 

“I see you got my clothes.” Maria noted looking at the pile of folded dirty clothes on a table. Natasha didn’t respond, she was looking Clint’s monitors, one of them was beeping again. 

“Nat, hey, it’s going to be ok.” 

“I don’t think it is Maria. I don’t think it’s going to be OK, I mean look at him.” 

“Nat” 

“Maria, I never told him. I never got to tell him.”

“Oh honey, come here.” Maria said gesturing for Natasha to give her a hug. Natasha openly accepted the comfort, something she never did, unless it was from Clint and even then it was rare. Maria knew that Natasha was heartbroken and that nothing she could do would make it better, which broke Maria’s heart. Natasha and Maria were close enough to be siblings, they told each other everything, they went out drinking together when they wanted to be away from everyone yet still not be alone. Maria let the hug stretch on until Natasha pulled away, and both of their faces had tear stains on it. Maria stood there observing for a few more minutes until Fury called her back to his office. 

“How’s it looking?” Fury asked.

“It’s not good, as I assume you can tell.” Maria answered back semi snarkily. 

“He going to make it?”

“I saw him Nick. It isn’t looking good and with every day that goes by his chances get worse and worse. I don’t know if he’s going to make it.”

Fury sighed and looked up from his desk that he was trying to focus on to hide the anger and emotions on his face. “How’s she doing?” 

“Do you really want to know the answer to that question?”

“Worse than I expected?” 

“Much worse. Nick she let me hug her and she wasn’t drunk.” 

“Shit.” 

It was another week of Natasha not leaving Clint’s side without any news coming from any source until a doctor came in one day, did an examination and left without saying anything. The doctors and nurses never did that, they always tried to talk to Natasha, get her to eat or get some fresh air, but she always refused. Natasha knew something was up so she began to speak to Clint for the first time out loud. 

“Clint. Hey I know, I know that I haven’t talked to you out loud, but I haven’t left. Clint please wake up please do it for me. Please Clint. Please just wake up. Don’t leave me, don’t leave me alone. You’re the only person that has never left, never doubted me. Please don’t leave me.” Natasha begged while holding his hand. After Natasha said what she had wanted to say she went back to sitting in silence until Clint’s monitors started beeping wildly. 

“Clint. Clint. Can you hear me? Are you there?” Natasha called out to him as his body started seizing and she recognized it as a seizure, trying to hold him down as she called for help. 

“Somebody! Hey I need a doctor! He’s having a seizure! Somebody please! I need help! Please!” She screamed out and a team of doctors and nurses barged in, pushing Natasha out of the way and out of the room so she was standing outside the window as she watched the doctors try to save her best friend. 

“Somebody get me a defibrillator he’s going into cardiac arrest!” 

“Doctor his B.P. is dropping!” 

 

“His vitals are tanking!” 

“Oxygen is starting to go too!”

Natasha watched all of this take place from outside the room in a stunned horror, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t draw her eyes away from the sight of her best friend dying right in front of her eyes. The tears started to flow freely as more and more people rushed in the room. 

“No Clint. Don’t do this to me. Please Clint. No Clint don’t do this to me.” Natasha whispered as she put her hand up against the glass, trying to reach out to him. Natasha didn’t notice Fury and Coulson come up on each side of her, or Fury pull her away from the scene. She didn’t realize that she was now sitting in his office with the tears still streaming down her face with a glass of scotch in front of her. 

Fury sat down across from her and pulled her out of her trance by wiping away the tears on her face. Natasha stared at him, begging him with her eyes for any sort of good news, he only stared back at her sadly. Natasha stood and stormed out of the room with Fury quickly following behind her. Natasha was practically running to the infirmary room at this point with Fury chasing after her calling out her name, but she wouldn’t stop. Fury took a shortcut and was waiting for her at the doorway to Clint’s room. 

“Natasha, Natasha wait.” Fury said as she was struggling against him. Let me explain please. She slowed her struggle momentarily and he began again. “Natasha, he isn’t going to wake up, he’s officially on life support. They are keeping him alive so his family can come say their final goodbyes.” 

“Nick he doesn’t have family. We are his family!” Natasha nearly screamed. 

“I know, I know. I’m just trying to give him as much time as possible. I’m trying to give you guys as much time as possible, but when they pull the plug you can’t be there.”

“The hell I can’t. If anyone is going to be there for his final moments it should be us. It should be me. Nick, I’m staying with him.” 

“Natasha, you know I want to be there as much as you do, but they won’t let us. They only allow blood relatives unless the relatives specify otherwise. It’s medical law, my hands are tied there is nothing I can do.”

“I don’t give a damn about laws or rules or blood. He is my best friend and there will be hell to pay if I’m not there when they end his life.” Natasha said with such a passion that everyone knew that she meant it. Natasha finally got the courage to push Fury out of the way and enter the hospital room. 

Clint was hooked up to even more machines and tubes and Natasha resumed her position sitting next to Clint’s bed with his hand in hers. She sat like this for hours with Fury, Coulson, and Maria sitting on the other side of the room occasionally making small talk, but mostly just sitting and watching. The three of them knew that Clint and Natasha’s time was dwindling with every passing minute, the doctor was going to be in to kick them out very soon, it was only a matter of time. The three of them agreed that they were going to do their best to make this as easy on Natasha as possible, Clint was her first partner and the only person she consistently went on missions with, the two men believed that there was something more to their relationship or there at least could be. Maria on the other hand knew that Natasha loved Clint, she had told her so, but she was too terrified that something would happen to him if she ever admitted it to him, and she already knew that Clint loved Natasha. 

A couple of hours after Natasha had first entered, a doctor came in to deliver the news that it was time. Maria walked over to Natasha first, knowing that she was probably the best match for Natasha in hand to hand combat, but she hoped that it wouldn’t get to that. 

“Nat, it’s time to go.” She said gently. 

“No, I’m not leaving him.” She whispered angrily while shaking her head as the tears continued to fall down her face. 

“Natasha, please don’t make this harder than it already is. Please let’s go get a drink, or let’s go to a club, or let’s go find a mission to do really quick. Come on, please?” Maria begged Natasha. 

“Maria, please don’t make me leave him. He always hated being alone, don’t make him be alone for the last time.” Natasha asked as Fury whispered something to the doctor. 

“Natasha, it’s time to go.” Fury said sternly, putting on a mask. 

“No. I’m not leaving him, I don’t care what you say.” Natasha said getting more and more agitated. 

“Natasha, don’t make me do this, please?” Fury said holding up a small device in his hand. 

“You wouldn’t dare! You told me that was only for use in emergencies! Nick don’t do this! Please! I’ve been good. I’ve been loyal.” Natasha screamed as the fear crept into her voice with every passing word. 

“Then don’t make me do this Natasha, you know I don’t want to. Natasha, it’s time to go, there is nothing else we can do.” He said very calmly.

“Nick, don’t make me choose, please?” Natasha begged him. 

Maria looked a Fury with a curiosity to her face, she knew what the device did. It was Natasha’s device in case she ever lost control if the person that the Red Room trained truly came out and there was no sense of Natasha inside her. The device wouldn’t kill Natasha, it would only knock her out for about an hour or so, it was usually time for the real Natasha to gain control again. It was part of the deal that was made with the world security council, the device had only been used once before. As all of this was happening two security guards entered the room.

“Nick! Maria! Coulson! Please, don’t make me do this! Don’t make me leave him!” Natasha screamed as her voice died out. The first security guard tried to escort her out of the room peacefully, but she took him down with ease, the other took a heavier approach and tried to fight her hand to hand, as he was about to lose Fury triggered the device and Natasha fell to the floor, with Maria catching her just before her head slammed to the ground. 

“Nick! A little warning would have been nice.” Maria shouted. Trying to maneuver Natasha into her arms. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll take her down to her room. You guys go outside and make sure no one other than doctors come in.” Fury ordered as he picked up Natasha with ease, he was much stronger than he looked. The two others nodded and took their designated spaces outside the door, leaving only the doctor in the room with Clint. The two of them stood outside the door at full attention while the tears streamed down their faces. 

Fury had tears in his eyes as he set Natasha gently on her bed and left his favorite picture of the two of them by her bed on her nightstand so it would be the first thing that she saw when she woke up. It was a picture of her and Clint smiling at a cafe in Spain, they took it when they were on vacation together, their vacation ended up turning into a mission, it always did. Fury sighed and made the walk back upstairs to the infirmary knowing that he would pay for what he did, but he already had enough problems with one of his best agents dead, what was another one. When he arrived at the infirmary it was buzzing with people and Coulson and Maria were not at their posts so he went to investigate before he went off on them. 

Fury found them in Clint’s hospital room talking with a very much alive Clint. He was shocked to say the least. 

“How in the fuck are you not dead?” Fury asked. 

“Good to see you too Nick. Sorry you couldn’t get rid of me that easy. Ow.” Clint said with a chuckle trying to shake Fury’s hand. 

“Oh my god. Natasha is going to kill me. Oh, fuck!” Fury shouted storming out of the room. 

“Can please explain what happened to me. I’m so lost. Where’s Nat?” Clint asked choppily, having to stop every few word because he couldn’t fill his lungs fully. 

Maria and Coulson explained the entire story to him without much interjection from Clint’s side. His body was still trying to remember how to breath on its own again. After they finished he sat in his bed silently fuming until he finally spoke.

“I swear to god, if Natasha doesn’t wake up and is exactly like her old self that I remember as soon as she wakes up, I am killing all three of you starting with Fury.” Clint proclaimed so angrily that they all believed him. About half an hour later a commotion started outside the door and Maria opened it before Natasha ran into it face first. 

“Clinton Francis Barton! What were you thinking? YOU LITERALLY DIED IN FRONT OF ME! I swear to god Clint.” Natasha screamed rushing over to him and her angry tirade was ended by her slapping him on the face. It wasn’t hard it was mostly out of confusion and fear that she had lost her best friend than out of anger. 

Maria and Coulson took this as their opportunity to leave and leave the two of them alone. They went to the widow that was outside the room which actually turned out to be a one way mirror to stand with Fury to watch them. 

“Nat! What was that for?” He asked genuinely confused. 

“Because I’m in love with you, you big idiot!” Natasha screamed and then pressed her lips on to his before he could retort anything back. They held the kiss for a long time, until Clint had to pull away for more air.   
“Had I known this was going to happen I would have died a long time ago.” Clint joked after he caught his breath. Natasha smiled and she leaned in for another kiss, when they broke apart again she went back to her chair and didn’t even sit down before Clint tugged her hand towards him. 

“Natasha, lay with me. I’m not leaving you again. I love you too much to do that.” He said with his signature smirk. 

Natasha laid with him in the hospital bed until they both fell asleep. It was the best sleep that they both had ever had and after that night, as long as they were in a hundred mile radius of each other they never slept apart again.


End file.
